Welcome to the special LOST edition of TV or Not TV where, well, yeah, the title says it all.

LOST fans around the world have probably already spoken at length about the season premiere of the final season of LOST. I’m sure they’ve been all a-Twitter about it and I’m sure there is much debate about what they saw. As usual I am going to say this: IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN THE EPISODES DON’T READ THIS!

The two episodes that made up the season premiere did something I didn’t know the show LOST could do: it gave the fans both of the possible outcomes from the bomb being set off at the time of The Incident. Somehow we are shown a version of Flight 815 that was never brought down by the Swan hatch button not being pressed and the plane lands safely in LAX. How is this possible? It would appear it is because the Island is now resting at the floor of the ocean after the bomb went off. After this amazing revelation what do we see? All of our favorite LOSTies recovering from apparently being thrown back into the present and coming to the realization that the plan DIDN’T work and they are still on the Island. I know, real easy to make sense out of.

So what is it that we are seeing in these “flash” scenes? Clearly we’re not seeing the reality that the main events of the show are set in or else everyone would have to be wearing scuba gear. The sound that accompanies the flashes is different than seasons past as well, another clue that what we are see isn’t what we’re used to. There are people on Flight 815 that shouldn’t have been, there are some that aren’t on the flight that originally were. What we are seeing is an alternate reality. The real question I have about this is why? This is the last season of the show. Do we still really need a new method to tell what seems, on the surface, like a non-related story? With only 18 total episodes for the rest of the show to play out I’m sure they’ve already got enought story line to go around. Why do this to the audience?

When it is all said and done the only rational use that I can see of this new method of storytelling is being done to eventually show us that life wasn’t going to be better off of the Island and that undoing everything wouldn’t have improved their lives at all. We are probably going to see these characters play out this alternate timeline in 2004 and each and every one of them is going to live a miserable existence that is unfufilling because these folks were meant to be where they are and doing what they are doing. Why are they doing it? I have no frickin’ clue.

All of that being said I’m glad to see the show played out in a way that had me completely engrossed. Tonight was the first time in a long time I actually watched TV in real time instead of on a DVR delay so advertisers should be thrilled.

Some of the bits that made me chuckle:

– Alternate reality Charlie saying he was meant to die.
– Alternate reality Hurley saying nothing bad ever happens to him and he’s the luckiest guy in the world.
– Alternate reality Boone telling Locke that if the plane goes down he’s sticking with him to survive.
– Having Hurley see Jacob an hour after his death. This kind of gives Hurley’s “gift” of seeing dead people a whole new purpose.
– Finding out that the fake John Locke we saw back on the Island last season is Jacob’s Nemesis AND the Smoke Monster. With that knowledge in your head go back and watch DEAD IS DEAD from last season. Puts everything into a whole new context.
– In reference to the item above: Ben saying to “Locke” You’re the monster and his response is “Let’s not resort to name calling.”
– Finding out that there are still Others at the Temple. This tells me that these Others are possibly a different faction of the group, one not so willing maybe to follow Richard or the new regime. Maybe they are the more devout followers of Jacob? Not sure, but I like the possibilities.

I’ll bite my tongue about this alternate reality story telling that is occurring and I will give it a chance to see how it plays out. By the second season of LOST the flashbacks were my least favorite part of the show and with everything going on even in these first two episodes the alternate reality stories had almost the same level of disinterest from me. They just feel like mind-confusing filler right now, so I really hope they go somewhere with this.

Come back again next week where I’ll once again try to get a little less LOST with the rest of you.

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